Austin, San Antonio Winter break Trip 2013
 

Its about that time again when I look out a gazillion options for our Winter break trip. Our list of conditions hasn't gotten rather long these days and anywhere arctic cold is totally out (please realize arctic to a Miami family is really just cold to normal people.) And since my points accounts are in the process of recharging - we have to pay for 4 plane tickets.

After thinking for a while we came up with Austin, Tx and the surroundings. DH and kids have never been to Texas and Ive never been to Austin, its not too cold, and it has a great food scene. So I'm thinking of of 8-10 days. I know that's too long for just Austin, we can also hit San Antonio (Alamo) and ???? Houston?? My 14 year old is a science nut, is it worth the drive for NASA? Little guy is 11 - loves any sport and beef!!! We are all National Park junkies if there is anything in driving distance.

Our last winter trips include, Arizona, So Cal, No Cal, Argentina, Italy, and NOLA(kids stayed home for this one.)

Any thoughts??

We had never been to West Texas, so in February 2012, we drove from Austin to the Big Bend area for 5 nights and had a great time. The weather was fabulous at that time of year to be at Big Bend--pleasantly warm during the day and pleasantly cool at night. So, I'd recommend that you combine 3 days in Austin with 5-6 days in West Texas instead of going to San Antonio or Houston. Based on the interests of your family (science, National Parks, and beef), I don't think you can go wrong.

My recommended itinerary would be:

Day 1--Drive to Fredericksburg with a stop to do the driving tour at LBJ National Historic Park. In Fredericksburg, you'll find some great German and non-German restaurants. There's also a fun Main Street with some shops that you all will enjoy. Be sure to stop at Rustlin' Rob's for free tastes of all the sauces, jams, dips and fudge they sell. And don't miss the "blast from the past" at Dooley's Five-and-Dime. If any in your group are WWII history fans, they won't want to miss the National Museum of the Pacific War. Also, you might want to drive outside of town to climb Enchanted Rock. Then spend the night in F'burg or drive on to Junction. We stayed in Junction at the Best Western Plus Dos Rios and ate some great BBQ beef at Lum's--a real "Texas" kind of place.

Day 2--Drive to Big Bend NP and stay at the Chisos Mountains Lodge. (We stayed in Alpine and drove to BB, but you'd probably prefer to be right in the park.)

Day 3--Big Bend

Day 4--Drive to Davis Mountains State Park and stay at Indian Lodge. Visit the McDonald Observatory and be sure to do the tour that takes you to see the various telescopes. If you are there on a weekend, make a reservation for the Star Party. In lieu of, or in addition to the Star Party, drive to Marfa to see the famous Marfa lights. Even more amazing to me than the Marfa lights were all the stars we could see away from the city!

Day 5--Tour historic Fort Davis. (Your sports-loving son will enjoy seeing the film which is hosted by Kareem Abdul Jabbar. I think he was chosen to narrate this film because he is the author of several African-American history books and the Buffalo Soldiers were stationed at Fort Davis.) If you have the time (and the interest) you can do the scenic hike from Indian Lodge to Fort Davis, something we really enjoyed. Depart for Austin this day or stay one more night if you have time.

longhorn -
Thanks so much for your feedback!!! Im checking it all out!! The drive from Austin is 6 hours each way, huh?

Yes, it's about a 6 hour drive and the speed limit for much of the way is 80 mph. It really didn't seem like a long drive to me because I loved all the West Texas scenery.

longhorn55,

Thanks for this great information. Since we bought our first RV 3 years ago, my husband and I have taken a 4-5 week fall trip usually in September/October. This year circumstances have forced us to push our trip later into the year and many of the places we would normally go will be too cold.

So I started investigating and the Big Bend area caught my interest. A lot of your advice for MiamiBeachMomma will work for us as well. We've already been to Austin, so may skip that this trip and go up into southern New Mexico to see the White Sands NM and other nearby attractions.

I'm looking forward to the dark skies out there. We used to see the Milky Way here quite often. Then they installed street lights.

Glad to have been of help, Floridafran. By all means, do go to White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns in NM. (While I had never been to West Texas until last year, I have been to NM and it's a very scenic state too.)

Not trying to hi-jack this thread but have a quick question for longhorn55.

We had originally intended to make this trip from mid/late November into mid/late December. We may now how to push it even more due to the health issues of a family member. I know the weather varies from year to year but at what point, if any, does it usually get too far into winter to do this, weatherwise. Just FYI, we don't mind cold - have been to Yellowstone in winter in our pre-RV days - just don't want to push it as far as being safe/comfortable for hiking and suitable for the RV. (We've had it in freezing temps for a few hours with no problems but wouldn't want to do it for an extended period, especially if we were camping without electrical hook-ups.)

Thanks.

I have been to San Antonio in late January/early February several times for conferences, and while it was gloriously warm for Bostonians, rain was not uncommon. You might want to check out climate data if you go at that time. "Glorious" means a high in the 60's or low 70's.

Friends from Nantucket took their two teens on almost exactly the trip longhorn describes in February last year, though they stayed longer in Big Bend. They all loved it, and the teens want to go to UT Austin. Weather was great.

Ah, Ackislander, your friends children are wise beyond their years if they want to go to UT Austin! (-:

Floridafran, I'm afraid I'm no expert on the winter weather in West Texas. All I know is that we were there in mid-February and the weather was gorgeous! Clear, sunny days with temps in the 60's. Cool, clear nights and I just wore long sleeves and a fleece jacket.

Perhaps this link will be helpful:
http://www.big.bend.national-park.com/weather.htm

What about must sees/dos in the Austin area?

Thanks, longhorn55.

I absolutely disagree with the idea to go to Fredericksburg and West Texas on your trip. We live here and do often go to New Mexico and drive that way. It is an awful drive. I know I don't want to drive 12 hours once I fly to my destination.

You may want to or you may not but I just want to stress that that itinerary is not for everyone. Check out the info on Big Bend to see if it interests you that much.

When my sons were your son's age, we took them to the Natural History Museum in Houston. I would do Austin, San Antonio and Houston.

Also, lots of people recommend Fredericksburg, but to me it's just a tourist trap unless you are dying to do a hill country drive. My kids were not the type to enjoy a war museum. I've been there several times and do enjoy that kind of thing, as does my husband, but the kids (now both in college in Austin) never did. If you do go that way, you might want to check out Enchanted Rock because the main street is basically just shopping at overpriced shops.

When you say Winter Break do you mean December break or February?

The website for the Houston museum of natural science:

http://www.hmns.org/

Things to do in Austin:

Texas Bob Bullock museum:

http://www.thestoryoftexas.com/

Segway Tour or Duck Tour

December break.
We don't get a Presidents week break :(
Airfares are killing me!!! So jacked up for Christmas. Worse than in past years (imo.)

Does this alter your trip planning?

Seems like OP is heading to Vegas instead of TX.

Airfare everywhere is ridiculous this year!!! I just cant pay 500+ a ticket when its normally $200 (unless we fly out at 5:45 am - which in my experience ruins the 1st 2 days of the trip since everyone sleep schedule is out of whack (especially mine!)) Although Vegas is still a maybe - not everyone convinced its go. That's why Im looking at the National Parks option - much more enticing! Death Valley seems like a good plan in December - or possibly Zion. When we started this venture we looked at Santa Fe - which I am still so interested in - but airfare is $700+ a ticket!! Yikes!